Jane Jeffrey Distinguished Service Cross, 1919

While recovering in Auteuil, France, Jane Jeffrey was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross -- an unusual honor for a woman.

Congress created the Distinguished Service Cross July 9, 1918, and awarded them to World War I military personnel for extraordinary heroism in military operations against an armed enemy of the United States.

Eyes for the Navy Certificate of Acknowledgment, ca. 1918

The image of the blindfolded sailor at the top of the certificate Aageson received was used throughout the public information campaign on posters and other materials to encourage Americans to donate their optical and navigational equipment to the Navy.

15

Women employees, Portland Company, 1917

At the Portland Company, women helped to manufacture the 108-millimeter brass howitzer shells used in the war. These women are posing in front of the shipping and receiving doors at the Portland Company in 1917.

Women worked in a variety of other wartime industries in Maine and elsewhere.

16

Food--don't waste it, World War 1 poster, c. 1917

The government's Committee on Public Information supplied pamphlets about the war effort, speakers called "Four-Minute Men" who discussed the war and what civilians could do, and a variety of other advertising and propaganda to garner public support.

Another thing households -- and particularly women -- could do was conserve food so that the larger stores of provisions could go overseas.